Homebound
by syaoran no hime
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke returns to Konoha in a desire to find Naruto and kill him, and verify his strength. He has to find him first, but the woman who knows the answers will not let him. SasuSaku request.
1. Default Chapter

Foreword : This is a once-in-a-blue-moon project that goes beyond the usual syao-chan fluff overdose. Be warned of its dark take on romance and inclusion of lime/lemon/whatever. OOC may occur. Read at your own risk. My apologies to Jiri-chan who originally requested for this story. This may be the last thing she expected me to write for her SasuSaku request. Feel free to kill syao-chan, dearie.

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His breathing had quickened harshly upon seeing the twinkle of light coming from a lantern burning some meters ahead. It was the resting home of the Godaime, a place the Konoha authorities had kept secret for years. But he was no ordinary shinobi, and it took him only a few weeks of tracking this place.

He still had one remaining mission in life. Yes, he had succeeded in killing his brother and freeing himself from the cursed seal of the snake devil. But he was still not the strongest, for Uchiha Itachi's words still haunt his mind, terrorizing him and driving him at times in the edge of insanity.

"Your hatred will never be enough, little fool. It will continue to grow within you like a hungry beast, asking to be fed more and more until in the end, it consumes you. You will never be strong enough, remember that."

As if a lever, it automatically set his eyes aflame in bloody scarlet. The rest of his body trembled in fury.

He wouldn't be sated until he finishes his last mission: to find Naruto and kill him. This was the only path to his sanity salvation that he could see in the darkness. Naruto would verify his strength. Naruto would cement his doubts that his brother had planted in him.

However, that damn village must have sensed his plans and had proceeded to hide the boy. No one really knew where the Kyuubi temple was except for the Godaime. And that was why he was going to pay her a little visit today.

His movements were lithe and not one bit wasteful. Tsunade was no ordinary warrior to deal with—her legend was not made of rumors, as Orochimaru said. And despite his confidence on his ability, years of seemingly endless battle to keep himself alive had taught him wariness—something that his twelve-year-old cocky self had once failed to exhibit.

His knocks on the doors were casual and not deliberate—he knew that even when it seemed like he was alone in the forest, he may never know that there were ANBUs around, watching after the retiring Fifth Hokage. It wouldn't do that he would earn much attention for himself. Garbed in dirty brown mantle and a mask reminiscent of the ANBU masks themselves, it wasn't that he was unprepared if ever one spots him. It would be difficult to trace his identity—even before he headed for his showdown with his brother, he had already taken care of erasing Uchiha Sasuke's vestiges. He was a very dead man in the village of Sound, and he head already taken care of the body through another forbidden jutsu that was of higher level than the Kage Bunshin. His stay in the Snake Sannin's lair hadn't been unproductive.

And he was also carrying the documents of the said ANBU he killed, as well as the man's memories, secrets, and fighting techniques. He was living in this man's identity, so he didn't need worry about anyone finding out that Uchiha Sasuke was still alive, and was in Konoha nonetheless, looking for the Kyuubi boy that the village was protecting.

His thoughts dissipated when the door opened. Taking his breath in quietly, he prepared to meet another old face from his past.

But not an amount of preparation had braced himself for the face he would see.

Haruno Sakura, ten years older than he remembered, opened the door and looked at him coolly, her emerald eyes calm and expectant. "You came after all, Uchiha Sasuke-kun."

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They were inside the hut already, he seated by the fireplace and she kneeling on the pot, stirring something. Both had not spoken for the whole time that they had settled themselves inside the house.

His dark orbs regarded the female quietly. Ten years had done so much to the girl who used to giggle in a way that could only annoy and amuse him at the same time. The girl who chased him endlessly, the girl who sacrificed many things for him, the girl who was one of the largest and most difficult hindrances he had to get rid of on his way of going back to his own path as an avenger.

Her long rose-colored hair had gradually been tempered into pale cherry hue, and was now held down into a modest braid coming all the way down to her perfectly –sculptured buttocks. She had lost her few baby fats that she used to gnash her teeth on and would try to remedy through crash diets that he, Naruto, and Kakashi used to consider as temporary, and the duration as a gambling amusement. But he was once again reminded that it had been a decade, since her body flaws gave way to her small round breasts and a tiny waist that he was sure he could perfectly span in one arm only. Her legs had taken shape and had grown longer, that they could have run forever and he wouldn't mind tracing their paths with his eyes. He could see her soft-looking rosy ankles from beneath the pale pink kimono she was wearing.

Despite himself, he found something in him rise in excitement.

"Eat." Sakura placed down a bowl of steaming vegetable soup in front of him.

He smirked. "I do not eat in my enemy's house. I hope you don't mind."

She took her time taking her own bowl of soup from the same pot and then sat down the table. She began to eat quietly, ignoring the steady gaze she was receiving from her visitor.

He, on the other hand, felt a pang of annoyance at the cold treatment he was receiving from someone who used to practically worship the grounds he walk on. Picking up his sword that sat by the brick fireplace, he went to her and pointed its edge at her throat.

The woman didn't even wince. She kept on eating, unmindful of the steely pointed edge that had sliced countless throats and necks already.

"I've come to ask the Godaime where they are keeping Naruto," he hissed.

She didn't even look up. "We'll talk later. You've come a long way to find Tsunade-sama. You need body nourishment."

His eyes narrowed, and he pushed the sword closer to her throat. Blood seeped down from the contact with her skin. "Don't meddle with my affairs, woman. Now where is the Godaime?" He was making his point: he may have been teammates before, but it wouldn't mean that he would be lenient towards her.

"I'm not meddling with your affairs. I'm asking you to eat." The same calmness that met him in the doorway surfaced, and it struck him in a way he wouldn't have imagined. He was a breath reaper that basked in the hollow depths of human fear and despair, and this tranquility was a new taste of behavior for him.

Anger formed within him slowly.

He drew his sword back and sat down beside her, eyes on the blood dripping down her slender neck. Something crossed his mind, making him smile maliciously. He reached over and bent down towards her nape. The woman remained unresponsive, but her eating stopped.

And then slowly, he nipped on her small bruise, his tongue tracing wet hot circles on her skin. She tasted salty blood, but for the life of him, she tasted like honey too. She was sweet and warm and alive, that he felt his whole inner self shake in excitement. And her whole body smelled of rose petals and bamboo, arousing the sensuality within him he had kept buried for years.

"I do not let my enemy eat at my dining table," she said all of a sudden, making him freeze. She turned to him, face stoic. That impassiveness would not be erased very easily from his mind, he was sure. "I hope you don't mind," she finished coolly.

Abruptly, he pulled away, trying to shield his hurt with yet another cocky smirk. "I understand." Feigning meekness, he stepped back and sat down by the fireplace again, laying his sword back at the wall. Sakura, on the other hand, resumed her meal.

Quietness reigned once more in the room. He went back to inspecting the woman, but now not searching for changes. He sought for small pieces of evidence of the twelve-year-old Haruno Sakura who used to dwell in this woman's body years ago. He didn't exactly know why he was doing so, when all he had went for here is to find the Godaime and ask from her the whereabouts of his last target.

It wasn't on his plan to sit on the cold floor and wait for the meal of this woman to finish, or to be dismissed when he was having fun with her. His tightening crotch wasn't part of his agenda too: in his travels, he had not been without women. Creatures who didn't mind his masochistic ways in bed, and who would yowl and moan and scratch shamelessly, obscenities and vulgarities pouring out from their mouths. He relished them all: he hurt them deliberately so they would hurt him back, and the whole process would enable him to feel stronger, to feel alive more than ever.

And yet this woman, without those things, was able to make him burn inwardly even with her own scorching coldness.

Was this really Haruno Sakura, or a familiar-looking shell posing as her?

She got up and took her bowl along with his that he didn't even touch. She dumped them in the sink and pulled a rope from the ceiling. Immediately, water rushed forth from the faucet, and the plates floated halfway. A few scrubbing, and then she was on her way back to him, all the dining utensils now cleared away.

She sat down and looked at him, practically for the first time since she let him into the house.

"Godaime is not here."

This made him frown deeply. "That is impossible. I have confirmed that this is her resting house."

"And that is correct," she said, nodding.

"So why is that woman not here?" he asked.

"You were tasked tonight to hand over that envelope to the Godaime, am I right?" she asked, eyes on the white envelope he was holding. "That is why you are so sure that she would be here."

He looked down at it. "You knew that I would come."

"We had been knowing that since we found your body years ago, Uchiha Sasuke-kun," she said wanly. "The body you used Orochimaru's jutsu on." She clasped her hands firmly on her lap. "I was an apprentice of a medical nin, Uchiha Sasuke-kun. And I loved you then. I would know immediately who you are."

This made the corner of his mouth twitch mockingly. "Then?"

She ignored him. "We know you will come for Naruto one of these days, and if you should know, he is already happily married. He has a family, and we will not allow him anymore to be disturbed from his happiness he had been longing for since he was a child."

His heart tightened. Naruto, happy? He had no right to be happy. He was a monster, like him. How dare he find happiness when here he was, still in confused misery and seeking answers? Anger boiled within him, along with envy, pain, and sadness, and this was his first time to feel so much emotions in one situation. It was damn weakening, and it was something he detested so.

"Leave him alone," she advised him slowly. "He is happy with Hyuuga Hinata-san and his children."

"No."

Her eyebrow arched.

"NO." Sasuke rose from his seat, aura burning and radiating fiercely. "I'll find him…I'll find that bastard…"

"I see." She got up as well. "No one knows where they are, if you should know. You may try killing every shinobi here, but they will not provide you answers. The Godaime will not provide you one either, because only two people know where Naruto and his family are." She smiled for the first time since their whole meeting, but this one was far from the sunny smiles he would receive from her back in their genin days.

It was cold too, as the rest of her was.

"And Iruka-sensei is dead."

His mind was quick to understand. "The other person is you."

Her silence affirmed this, and it made him laugh humorlessly. For some minutes, his laughter filled the room and her silence balanced it.

Upon recovering, his haughtiness resurfaced. "So that will make my job easier. I can take the answers out of you, Haruno Sakura."

She didn't even seem affected. "Torture? I will not be a willing victim, you know. And even if you do succeed to me down to my knees, you will still fail." Her eyes didn't even blink. "I'm ready to die anytime."

"Is that so?" He stepped closer towards her, and she didn't even move. "What if I tell you that I have other ways of getting what I want?" His hand grabbed her jaw roughly, but this too failed to solicit a reaction from her.

"I will not be bothered by anything you do," she said steadily, her eyes turning a shade deeper because of pride and resentment, but there was something else too. And this made him smile maliciously. All women are alike, just in different ways. They were all shameless harlots who only needed to be prodded to admit their uncontrollable desire.

His face lowered towards her, taking his time. He was starting to enjoy this thoroughly. "Would you like me…to continue what I almost did to you in the forest?"

Her stifled gasp flew out, and this made him smirk some more. His fingertips started to smoothen her cheeks. "Would you?"

"When you nearly raped me to prove your point?" she asked, angry emotions starting to seep into her voice.

He could see the yesterday in her jade-colored eyes. Like him, she didn't forget too, as he earlier feared.

"You seduced a sixteen-year-old girl," she hissed harshly.

"On the contrary, Sakura. I only responded the way a man should to a girl like her." His eyes glistened ruthlessly. "You said you would do anything just to make me stay…so you won't be alone anymore."

"That girl who said that is forever gone," she replied, her eyes starting to blaze. "Do you remember what she told you? That once you let go of her, you'll never have her again." And before he could react, a bottle materialized all of a sudden between her fingers. She smashed it on his face and jumped back.

Sasuke's sharingan went into action and quickly he detected the scent of poisonous ammonia. He fled towards the sink and dove his face on the soapy dishwashing water. When he had scrubbed his face clean, he turned around, expecting her next attack.

The next assail didn't come. She was standing by the fireplace, where his sword was noticeably missing.

He dried his face with the available dishtowel. "You should have run away when you had the chance, instead of hiding my weapon. I don't need it to interrogate you."

"If I do run away, you'll still come after me anyway." She leaned on her door. "I'll deal with you on my own, Uchiha Sasuke, because it's the only way I could think of getting back the respect I lost for myself years ago." Raw pain sliced her face, but it was quickly displaced by her dismally stoic expression again. "I will kill you."

This enraged him. In a blink of the eye, he was right in front of her. His hands aimed for both her shoulders, but her hand suddenly came from behind, holding a stiletto. He used his arm to hit her wrist, causing her to drop her weapon. Without missing a beat, his hand encircled both her fists and imprisoned them above her head. They were both gasping for breath after the bustle of movements.

"Weak. You are still weak," he whispered, inwardly satisfied with finally finding one sign of the old Haruno Sakura in her.

Her eyes though were defiant.

This prompted him to crush her mouth without warning, devouring her soft lips in his cruel punishing way, in an effort to quash the height and might her eyes show. She tried to break away, but he wouldn't let her. His tongue thrusted deeper into her mouth seekingly, carnally exploring her secrets and mysteries. He felt a groan—he didn't know if it was pleasure or pain—die on his lips, but he didn't give a damn. Her mocking eyes challenging his limits occupied his mind, driving him insane. He was always the one holding the reins. He was the one who held power. A woman who used to adulate him wouldn't be the person to break his might!

It was only when he felt his chest threatening to split into two that he realized that he had not taken his breath yet after getting lost into this woman and the stupor her sensation creates. He raised his mouth, his breath and blood racing, taking his time to gaze at her. He searched her face for a sign of defeat or surrender, but he failed, to his dismay. She was still stiffly glacial, her eyes insolent. His fists clenched. This was the biggest insult against his manhood that he had ever faced. All because of a pink-haired little girl locked away in this stranger's body.

Then he felt something within him break away. A sixteen-year-old boy looking distantly at the little rose-haired girl, suppressing his wish to embrace the girl-- his arms to wrap around her to hide the torn scarlet clothes that were his own doing. His mind screaming in anger, berating himself as he listened to her heartbroken sobs.

Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun… 

His sharingan started to act once more.

Sasuke-kun… 

The twelve-year-old boy who would steal casual glances at the pink-haired genin as she punch their blond loudmouth teammate or banter with their sensei for being late yet again.

Sasuke-kun… 

The nine-year-old girl who finally came up to him and offered him a flower which was her namesake, and then asked him out on a date. He flatly said 'no', but her sadness was temporary. "_Maybe someday then._"

"_Maybe,_" he remembered himself replying noncommittally.

"Someday…afternoon or evening? I mean I still have to tell my dad beforehand what time I'll be home, ne, Sasuke-kun?"

He forced himself back to reality. "Weak," he sneered to her face.

Her facial muscles barely reacted. "Are you talking to yourself?"

"F-ck you!" He tried to seek entrance into her mouth again, but she turned her face away. His other hand cupped her face roughly and forced her to look at him in the eye. He bent down, but she clamped her mouth shut. Incensed, he bit her lower lip, making her cry out. He seized the chance to sink his tongue once more into her mouth.

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Sakura mentally stopped her lachrymal ducts from releasing their contents as she tried and failed to free her hands from Sasuke's iron-like fists. She knew that what was happening would just be a repeat of what happened a decade ago, only this time, he might actually conclude the act.

Her moans didn't do anything to drive him away. He seemed intent on owning her, starting with her lips. She tasted blood, and she wanted to sob. The kiss was filthy. It wasn't Uchiha Sasuke—it was a demon kissing her now.

She wasn't a harlot to be treated this way. Her only mistake was her act of desperation—her one last card so as to stop Sasuke from leaving the Konoha hidden village ten years ago. She promised him all of her, if only he would stay. She had previously dismissed all his barks at her to leave him alone. Hell, she even pretended not to hear when he told her straight on that she was just a nuisance to his mission in life.

His steely maleness grinded against her hips, almost terrifying her. She had mentally and emotionally prepared for this day, but now, terror was still engulfing her, threatening to take her consciousness.

No! she hissed to herself. She wouldn't fall apart like she did ten years ago. She wouldn't let the demon win again this time.

She gasped when she felt his free hand begin its exploration on her clothes. She tried to wriggle free desperately, but it was like trying to get out of a quicksand—her movements were just hastening her sure fall. And it was certainly making it easier for him to undo her top.

His lips left her mouth again, chasing after his breath he dispelled awhile ago in branding her lips as his. Desire had made his eyes unusually darker—the mixture of impatience, fury, and lust. She shivered involuntarily.

She was scared, but strangely, she was also excited, for his eyes reflected the same desire as hers that she was struggling to suppress.

"How many men had you in their bed, Flower?" he murmured as his hand finally slid into her blouse. "Did they finish the job for me already? Did they make it good?" His tone turned as sharp as razor, his tone as acerbic as pure acid itself.

"None of your business," she hissed, inwardly trembling in the unexplainable sensation his hand was giving her. His fingers kneaded expertly the swelling valley of her breasts as he continued his barely audible whispers.

"I'll kill them, Flower….I'll kill them all…but for now, I'll make you forget them…" His mouth traced its burning path down the hollow of her throat, tickling her. "You're mine…mine…"

She gasped when she felt his breath on her chest, and her weight fell against the door when he caught one nipple into his mouth and played with it, his tongue tracing erotic patterns all over it.

She felt his hold on both her arms loosen, and she knew that it was her chance to attack him, but her body now had a master of its own. Instinctively, her arms grabbed his rough raven hair, pushing her harder against her breasts. She thought she heard his chuckle, but like before, she deafened herself against his destructiveness.

He briefly kissed her mouth hard again. "It could have been so long since your last time, huh? You want someone inside you so bad…"

She cupped his face and kissed him back. She didn't want to hear any other man. She was his, then and now. There was no one else. For always.

Another moan escaped her when he fondled and loved her bosom alternately, his hotness setting her already ablazed body on fire. His other hand had slipped into her undergarment and was now frolicking on her damp wetness.

His eyes glowed in lava-hot wanting. "You're ready, Flower."

She couldn't reply coherently, even when his hand led hers to his crotch. Her eyes flew open in wonder. This throbbing thing between her hands was the difference between him and her. And it was moving to its ancient dance just for her.

Fear yet again overwhelmed her—she knew he was only too capable of breaking her if this would indeed enter her.

He laughed quietly when he saw the painful panic on her face. "Chickening out?"

She tiptoed and kissed him passionately, and his arms scooped her up, kissing her back deeply. Her hands went down from the back of his head to the base of his nape, and then to his chest, still covered by his shirt. She tugged on it impatiently, and he obediently pulled it up. Her fingers felt every bruise, every scar—they came in different sizes, but she didn't ask anymore. These wounds spoke of those ten years of him wandering into darkness. When he thought that with the death of his brother, he would finally see the light, but it turned out that he was only to be plunged all the more in the abyss…

Her lips kissed them softly, and they were like honey balm to his wounded body and soul. He kissed her hair, his hands leaving no part of her unloved and untouched. The door was threatening to break in now both weights leaning against it, but the two souls were only concerned in the release of their pent-up emotions and wants.

She could feel his manhood against her legs, but she made no move to tell the truth. She could only close her eyes as he knelt before her and buried his face on her sanctity, in reverence of her womanhood. And just when she thought she was about to explode with all the white-hot heat running down from her stomach, he looked up at her. "You want me…"

She bit down her lower lip to keep herself from talking.

"Say it, damn it!" His hand, which was roaming possessively on her mound, suddenly plunged into her, almost taking her breath away.

"Say it," he commanded.

"Yes!" she hissed, lost in the magic of his fingers.

"Tell me," he commanded once more as he stood up and kissed her mouth, leaving his hands where they were. "Sakura, tell me that from now on, it will just be me."

"Only you…it was only you…" She was only half-consciously aware of what she was saying.

"Don't lie, Flower." And he claimed her lips again, preparing to penetrate her.

She should tell him now—she knew that he wouldn't be gentle since he thought she was not a virgin anymore.

But what if he goes away when he learns that?

She shut her eyes tight. No, she couldn't afford that possibility.

So she bit her lower lip and tried her best no to make a sound when he savagely plunged into her world. She didn't know when was the point that her scream finally resounded, and that she drove back to the door.

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Sasuke couldn't understand why she was so tight that it was hurting him. it then hit him when she cried out in pain. He nearly did a double take when he saw how the woman beneath him writhed in what seemed like uncontrollable pain.

She is…

His eyes blazed in anger, trying to bury beneath it his own pain and guilt. "So you want me to initiate huh? So you waited for me to finish this?" He grabbed her buttocks and harshly pushed himself down into her.

Her stifled cry of pain nearly broke his heart. _I'm sorry…_

Sakura, on the other hand, could not move anymore. This was by far the most painful sensation she ever had, and she didn't have any idea on how to drive it away.

Her body reacted for her when finally, darkness took her in.

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_"Sasuke-kun, don't leave Konoha! Please!" Sixteen-year-old Haruno Sakura ran after the sixteen-year-old Uchiha Sasuke. They were on the border of the forest already, only a kilometer away from where the Leaf village ends. "Sasuke-kun!"_

_"Why did you have to come here?" he hissed._

_Sakura clasped her hands together. "You don't have to leave. W-We're happy here! We'll grow up to be Chuunins together! Then eventually…eventually, we'll be Jounins…and we'll wait if Naruto will indeed be the next Hokage…" Hot tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "Sasuke-kun!"_

_"I am an avenger," he said firmly, driving any kind of emotion that try to displace his control over his voice. "I have a different destiny."_

_"My destiny is to be with you, Sasuke-kun!" she burst out. "I want to be with you because I love you!"_

_This shook him although she had told him her feelings countless times already, and if there was one thing he despised, it was getting his convictions disturbed. He faced her angrily. "Stop it!"_

_She jumped back, startled._

_"I am not capable of love, do you understand?" he yelled furiously. "I do not have the time for that because I have to kill Uchiha Itachi, and then build my clan once more. I cannot afford to be disturbed by your silly little love!"_

_He was besieged by her tears, but he steeled himself. It seemed that he had run out of options. He had to make her stop believing in him._

_"I'll do anything…just don't go…" she whispered. "I-If you want me to go away and stop pestering you, I-I'll do it so you won't be disturbed anymore by my feelings—" She cried when he shoved her roughly against the tree. "S-Sasuke-kun, what are you—"_

_He covered her mouth with his, but it wasn't the kiss she longed from him. It was insulting and dirty, and when she felt him tug her collar down her neck, she nearly fainted. This wasn't Sasuke…this wasn't the Uchiha Sasuke she loved…_

_When she heard the noise of torn clothes, she felt strength desert her. She weakly landed on his chest, sobbing._

_She didn't notice how he froze, or how his hands trembled when her teardrops wetted them._

_"Sasuke-kun…" she whispered, still disbelieving that everything was real. It seemed like her whole world collapsed at that very moment. "Why…" And then she was calling out his name, crying her heart out._

_She didn't know how long she had been like that, but when she woke up, she was in the Leaf infirmary. Naruto's fists were clenched in speechless fury, and Tsunade's face was troubled. Hatake Kakashi looked like he aged many years over._

_She felt a tear drop down her eyes. "We lost him…"_

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She woke up at the exact moment that Sasuke kicked her dining table furiously, muttering curses over and over. She could hear him saying "she was a virgin" over and over, so she knew that his sudden explosion of temper was because of what just transpired awhile ago.

She was about to get up when she felt something drop down her lap. She then realized that he had covered her with a blanket already. Despite herself, she had to smile. Somewhere within him still resides the gentle Uchiha Sasuke-kun that she loved so much in the past.

He sensed her movement. "Why are you smiling, damn it!"

A gentle shaking of head. "I'm sorry I fainted…"

He smiled insultingly. "You always do. How else can you get a good f-ck if you keep on doing that?"

She struggled to maintain her composure. "You didn't come?" she asked, feigning sympathy.

He exhaled sharply. "What good is it when the woman's asleep?"

"I'm awake," she said, shrugging.

He laughed sardonically. "If that is an invitation, count me out." He started to pick his clothes up when she got up, slowly heading for the kitchen. She didn't seem to mind that the blanket had come off her body already, or that the man had froze and was now watching her walk on all her naked glory.

She returned, holding a glass of water. Sipping delicately, she was well aware of something at the right coming into life. She bit back a smile. At least he still found her irresistibly attractive.

She felt him walk towards her, and then settle down beside her. His fingers traced her collar bone, and she nearly choked on her water, when she looked at his face though, there was no lust on his face—only frustration and ill-concealed concern.

"Damn, why do you bruise so easily?" he asked softly, almost forgetting her presence as he caressed her blue green-ish blemish. She remembered his lips and teeth on them, making her blush.

This caught the Uchiha's attention. He abruptly pulled his hand away and looked down at the floor, muttering yet another round of profanities.

"Will it hurt the second time?" she found herself asking out of the blue.

He released his breath sharply, followed by his sudden rise from the seat. He picked his mantle up. "There will be no second time."

She watched him, unfazed. "I am the only one who knows where Naruto is. If you want to have your answer, then come back."

He hissed, and then headed for the door. "No one orders me around." And with that, he slammed the door furiously.

A small smile formed on her face, and then she headed for her medicine cabinet. She took out a small pouch of blue powder and proceeded to stir it with a small glass of water. It was bitter and sickening, but she had to bear this.

She promised the Godaime, Kakashi-sensei and Naruto that she would get Uchiha Sasuke back this time. Now that she had the knowledge, power, and strength, she would get him back for them.

Ignoring her sudden vertigo, she went to the windows and parted the curtains, the old Haruno Sakura smile back on her face as she basked in the warm rays of daylight. "Sasuke-kun…is sure big…"

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Homebound 

_Part 1 of 2_

_A request fic for Jiri-chan _


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: After 7 years, I decided to go back and finish the story. As such, a lot of things have changed in the Naruto-verse, and this story can now be officially classified as an AU. Plus, the break gave me some additional ideas for the story, hence, I had to extend it to more than two chapters._

_Enjoy, and again, my heartfelt gratitude for the people who reviewed and encouraged me to finish writing this._

**Homebound: The Second Chapter**

_For everyone who waited for the conclusion._

Uchiha Sasuke silently withdrew his blade, just as his opponent's chest trembled in painful desperation. Blood trickled down from the man's wound, mixing with an ugly shade of green and violet fluid that dripped from his sword's edge.

The fluid was a marriage of the venoms of Sound Country's most feared snakes. Like a serpent, it was vicious as it was efficient; the Uchiha's onyx eyes coldly watched his victim's rapid, lurching movements and the violent rise and fall of the man's chest. Tetany was starting to settle in, but it was only the beginning. At this moment, he knew that the venom was working its sadistic measures on the man's cardiac system: it would only be a matter of time before the man's heart will commence its last frenzied waltz that would culminate in an abrupt, complete cessation of movement.

A death literally caused by a heart that stopped beating.

He turned his back on the man, who choked out names he was not interested in. The scene was like a replica of the many other deaths he caused (and with a deplorable mix of viciousness and kindness, witnessed, too), and he once again noted that the names were always family members and loved ones who they would only remember at death's door.

Moans of pain erupted from the man's throat; his movements became more erratic.

It was only a few minutes ago when the man stood by Haruno Sakura's doorway, wearing a triumphant smile. As Sasuke watched from the shadows, the said man cockily bragged how during one of his routine rounds around the Godaime's residence, he inadvertently saw the Godaime's prided protégée let an ANBU into the house.

The malicious smile on the Konoha's guard widened as he gleefully recounted how he became privy to the seemingly reserved and glacial kunoichi's clandestine wantonly ways in bed. The man then proceeded to offer the rose-haired kunoichi two methods to seal the secret between just the two of them.

One was to pay him a kingly sum that a lifetime's worth of honest work could never produce. Yet, the guard explained that Haruno Sakura was as close as anyone could get to the village treasury.

The other option was for her to sleep with him for one night. The lusty man had the gall to tell the medical nin that she should consider herself privileged to be worth the kingly sum he was asking for.

"_But conquering Konoha's Haruno Sakura in her most private world, one where only a few men could gain access to, nothing can make me prouder," said the male, cackling. _

Haruno Sakura reacted with detached interest. She told the man to do whatever he wanted with his knowledge, and she would just have to react accordingly. Then she shut the door on the man's face.

The man left hastily, cursing. Wordlessly, Sasuke followed him, until they ended up in the isolated fields between the Godaime's land and the training forest for genin students.

The man's final shudder rung in Sasuke's ears. Satisfied, he placed his sakkat back on his head and prepared to slip away.

As he pivoted, his vision doubled. He staggered, nearly tripping over the corpse's worn shawl. His vision blurred while his throat felt it wanted to burn.

He muttered profanities under his breath. Ever since he left Haruno Sakura that fateful day, he started experiencing these symptoms. He chalked it up initially to fatigue from the exhausting foot journey he made to locate the Godaime's residence.

Yet despite a day's worth of recovery, his symptoms persisted.

His instincts told him he might have been poisoned by the woman, though he was careful not to touch any food or drink in her residence. While Orochimaru had gifted him with immunity to poison, he adhered to rigid precautionary measures when dealing with enemies. He was only willing to abandon life once he faces Uzumaki Naruto in the battlefield again. He would then make sure to thrust the man personally to Izanami-no-kami's lap.

"Damn it…" He trudged away from the scene, sensing a group of people coming this way.

….

"Snake bite, probably."

"Poor guy."

"I feel sorry for his wife and kids, too. Kiwako-san's eldest son is only four years of age. How will they survive?"

Haruno Sakura's chest tightened with the conversation she overheard. Yet the only sign she showed the news affected her was the flicker of pain in her emerald eyes. Her arms and fingers never shook a bit—years of training with the Godaime herself ensured that her best weapons would not waver at pressure.

She was summoned by the Konoha soldiers earlier after a group of children chanced upon the man's corpse. While inspecting the body, she realized that it was the same man who threatened to spill her carnal tryst with an unnamed man.

Yet she spoke to no one about it. She gently placed a white blanket on top of the cadaver and proceeded to provide the Konoha guards an official report of the man's death. She prayed Shizune-san would not elect to skim this specific report, or they would find out that she made some erroneous claims in an effort to throw off suspicions.

The man, indeed, died of snake venom, but not because of a snake bite. Her eyes scanned the foliage surrounding them. The puncture was made by a blade, not by a serpent's fang.

She had an idea how it happened.

…

Karin lifted the hem of her robe back on her slender shoulders again. Beside her, Uchiha Sasuke sat quietly, eyes shut. He seemed to have recovered from his illness, at least for the moment.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked, tone half-mocking him.

"I need to go," he replied curtly, moving from his seat.

"Wham, bam, thank you, Ma'am," the woman said sarcastically, pushing the bridge of her eyeglasses back up. "Sometimes I wonder why I even let you into my house. Konoha has been really nice to me, yet here I am acting like a cheating wife—"

"Get me that tea then," he interrupted.

She gave him an incredulous look, though her mouth twitched. "My pleasure, Your Excellency." She headed for the kitchen, and a few seconds later, he could hear the sound of ceramics being taken out of the storage shelves.

"Sasuke-dono," the syrupy voice of the woman emanated from the kitchen, to his annoyance. "Maybe doing the deed with someone you love is dangerous to your health. Stick to your whores, I say."

He suddenly wished his former subordinate was in front of him, where he could activate his Sharingan and give her a nightmare to remember.

"But in any case, you have to go back to her." Karin emerged from the kitchen, carrying a tray. "If she really did cause your sickness, then she's the only one who can cure you, too." She placed the tray down and relaxed to a seat next to him. "I refuse to act like a dog toy you can nibble on every time the need arises—unless we can practice it mutually."

He glared at her, and then reached for the cup.

"How surprising!" One eyebrow arched perfectly on Karin's face. "Won't you check it for little love charms or wayward ginseng strands? Oh, I forgot. Your only aphrodisiac is a certain cotton candy-haired woman who won't tell you where your ex-best friend lives."

"Stop acting like a jealous dead wife," he said dully as he sipped the drink.

Her nose crinkled. "A jealous dead wife. How unromantic." But they both knew it was apt. She hated him ever since he showed patent disregard for her life during Sasuke's battle with Danzo, and it would be life's most delicious treat for her to see him die in agony. Yet she would more likely die first before letting anyone get so intimately close to him as to make that fatal blow that would claim his life.

"I am no medic, but I am sure you can't survive very long with only my powers," she said after a while. "You have to go back to her, no matter how it scares you." Her voice sounded thoughtful, almost pained. Once again, she crossed the very thin line of hatred, and she sounded like the wistful, infatuated girl he once knew.

He placed his mug down. "I'm off."

The smirk returned on her face. "Good luck. Lock the door on your way out."

….

Haruno Sakura was in her apartment, smilingly reading a letter while she rested on her bed. It was a tiring day, and she wanted nothing else but to sleep. Yet here she was, picking up an ink bottle and a stash of papers so she could write back to her friends who left Konoha for various reasons—missions, marriages, destiny…

Her eyes softened. It seemed she would be the only person in the famed Konoha Eleven to stay in the village for the remaining part of her life, after all.

She abruptly stopped short of picking up a pen. Hastily, she dove and rolled to the corner of her room, just as her bedside lamp exploded. Panting, she looked at her bedroom window and found Uchiha Sasuke crouched on the pane, a taunting smirk on his face.

She picked herself up from the floor, and then gazed at him wanly. "You do realize that in a few seconds, people will be rushing to my room to check on the explosion and see if I'm okay."

"And I will kill them all if they dare interfere," he said matter-of-factly.

She sighed and shook her head from side to side. "You are quite the troublemaker, Sasuke-kun."

"Sakura-dono! Are you alright!" Rattled voices came from the other side of the door. "Answer us!"

She headed to the door and opened it slightly, just enough for her head to peek in and give the crowd that gathered an apologetic and reassuring smile. "I'm sorry, everyone! I tripped and broke my lamp, but I'm alright."

Sasuke, who was seated calmly on her bed, watched in amusement as she further assured the kibitzers that she was unharmed. When she was finally done, she shut the door and turned to him, her expression testy. "Good evening to you, too. To whom do I owe the honor of this nocturnal visit from a dead man?"

"Well, my little witch, you left me with a nasty treat, so think of the bombs as my thank-you gift," he murmured, his tone at once soft and vicious. It was enough to send a small shiver down Sakura's spine. She unconsciously embraced herself in response.

Sasuke saw her movement and had to smile secretly at that. He continued. "I am immune to all poisons known to mankind, but apparently, what you left me was different."

"It is," she affirmed smugly.

"And so," he drew closer to her, leaving just a breath of proximity between their faces. "You will tell me how to cure this poison, or I will kill you."

"Hopefully in less amateurish ways like how you disposed of the Konoha-nin this morning," she shot back.

"Oh, you will not be disappointed." Despite himself, he felt his hand move towards her chin, where it lingered. His eyes glowed in lust as he took in her ethereal features, bathed lovingly by the moonlight. He saw her quiver slightly under his scrutiny.

Reluctantly, he drew away from her. "Let's go."

"Where?" she asked, snapping out of her daze.

Instead of replying, his arms secured her shoulders and waist. A second later, he was carrying her in his arms.

"Sasuke-kun!" She grew alarmed as he eased them out of her bedroom window.

"Hold tight," he instructed.

Then they both disappeared in the darkness of the night.

…

He carefully placed her down on his makeshift bunk, and she rolled away from his grasp. Her alert jade eyes scanned the Spartan surroundings of his hideout while he calmly fixed the sleeves of his robe.

She finally turned to him. "Why did you bring me here?"

"You were too smug, so I thought I'd knock off a peg or two from you." But taking her out of her comfort zone was not his only purpose, he thought as his eyes scanned her trembling form quietly. Even in flannel and grandmotherly bloomers, Haruno Sakura could still elicit feverish white-hot desire within him. And he could not risk anyone seeing them again when he planned to take her again.

Her eyes met him challengingly. "If you're planning to intimidate me—oh!" Her green eyes widened in shock when he suddenly bent down to kiss her. His hand found its way to her nape and nudged her even closer to him. As their kiss deepened, his other hand proceeded to make little sensual trails all over her lithe body. He felt her shudder in pleasure from beneath him, making him smile.

She must have sensed it, for she pulled back from him. Her gaze locked on him. "Sasuke-kun…"

"Do not deny me, Sakura," he meant it as a command, yet to his ears it was more beseeching. He silently cursed himself for it.

It was her turn to smile—the gentle smile that reminded him of his own mother. It was one memory he sought to repress, yet returned in full force when he met Haruno Sakura in the Academy decades ago.

"I will not," she replied, voice brimming with affection he never imagined he would hear from her again. "How can I do that, Sasuke-kun, when I waited for this all my life?" Her mouth met his, silencing him effectively.

…..

Tonight was different.

As Sakura nested herself in Sasuke's embrace, she recalled the way he loved her just moments ago. His defeated sigh as he finally helped her down on his bunk. His impatient tug on her clothes as her equally anxious fingers slid beneath his robes. Then the slow, tender, careful way he entered her, the small pain eventually giving way to ecstasy as immense pleasure rippled from her womb to her entire body. It was a far cry from their last encounter; this time he seemed to want to erase from her the painful memories of becoming one with him, which he left her the last time.

His hands and tongue expertly patiently prodded her to freedom, right until the final shudder when she thought she hit the highest roof of intangible madness. Seconds later, she felt him reach the apex, too, and then he fell on top of her, sweating and panting.

She raised her chin to look up at him, her eyes welling up with tears. She was beyond pretenses. "I will always love you, Sasuke-kun," she murmured to the sleeping man beside her. She cupped his face, intent to memorize the angelic innocence of his face.

….

It had been years since Uchiha Sasuke dreamt of something other than blood and death. But his dream at the moment consisted of a cherryblossom tree, where his twelve-year-old self and his teammate Uzumaki Naruto ate riceballs while waiting for their punctual-as-usual teacher, Hatake Kakashi.

Naruto was in his usual element, proudly declaring that he will become the greatest Hokage in Konoha's history. And in his usual silent way, Sasuke believed him. He thought he was above and beyond the boy, yet Naruto threatened him enough to know that the blond's incredible determination and compassionate heart meant that fate was entirely possible, if not inevitable.

They both turned when they saw 12-year-old Haruno Sakura rushing towards them, waving cheerfully. She greeted Naruto with her usual scoffing, then turned to him smilingly. She held her hand out to him.

_Let's go home together, Sasuke-kun!_

_Yeah, Sasuke, let's go! Kakashi-sensei will just have to find us in the ramen shop. _

He watched as Naruto jumped to his feet and pointed at the Hokage monument. _Get a move on, let's go!_

He found himself nodding, suppressing a smile of his own. He reached out to touch Sakura's hand, but the moment their fingers touched, her hand disappeared.

Naruto and Sakura vanished as well. He unsteadily stood up to look for them, just as the cherryblossom tree started to vanish, too. As the surroundings began to fade, he heard an older voice, unmistakably Sakura's.

_I will always love you, Sasuke-kun._

…

When he opened his eyes, it was already morning. He felt groggy, and at the back of his mind he knew he overslept. He cursed under his breath—for someone like him who was a fugitive to many villages, falling into deep slumber was one of the most fatal mistakes he could commit.

His eyes widened. "Sakura!" He scanned the familiar surroundings, looking for the pink-haired woman in flannels, but found none.

His forehead creased. He rose and searched for his clothes. He immediately found them folded neatly on the only chair in the room. Dressing quickly, he left the bedroom to search for her. "Sakura!"

Was she able to escape? Sasuke ventured out of the hut and inspected the foliage for chakra. He sensed nothing.

Moving quickly, he reached for his disguises. He needed to return to Konoha and see her urgently, for reasons he couldn't comprehend at this time. As he reached for the ANBU mask, he saw a vial on the table, along with a handwritten note.

It simply said, _"Your antidote."_

…

Sakura was walking back from the village post office when she felt an all-too familiar presence—one she now knew intimately. She sighed. "Isn't my payment for your services last night satisfactory?"

An ANBU emerged from the shadows of a nearby alley. "Don't talk to me like a whore. Dirty talk excites me sometimes."

She eyed him warily. "What else do you want?"

Sasuke smirked from beneath his disguise. "Indulge me. The antidote you gave me does not have any medicinal properties at all."

"Oh?" She looked at him with mild amusement. "What makes you sure of that? You were never good at herbs and medicines back in the Academy."

"I had a friend look at it." Sasuke did not need to mention the humiliation he went through in Karin's hands when she finished inspecting the so-called antidote.

"_It's water with strands of ginseng, Sasuke. It will make your endocrine glands happy, but that's it." Karin gave him a look of derision. "Where did you get this stuff from, Sasuke, a quack doctor?"_

She allowed a smile on her face. "Because what I gave you is not poison."

He gaped at her, dumbfounded.

"I knew about your poison immunity," she said casually. "But you are not immune from viruses, like every other human being."

"V-Viruses?"

She nodded. "The first time we—" Her cheeks flushed. "—copulated, that's how you got infected. It's a particular strain I discovered during my medical studies and took into my body. When by itself it mostly lies dormant, until it sees a certain cell in a host, and that's the time it would become active. I cultivated this cell to locate traits of snakes, you see, which I anticipated you should still have traces of."

"It's pretty harmless," she explained quickly when she noticed how he suddenly grew quiet. "I designed it to give you a scare, so you would go back to me for the cure. But then… " She looked away, cheeks burning. "Well, we did _it_ again, which I think killed the initial strains, so inadvertently, you got cured."

"So what you're telling me," he said, making her pause, "is if we _copulate _again tonight, I will get the viruses back, and to prevent this from happening, we need to _copulate_ once more and counteract it."

She looked at him, a flabbergasted expression on her face.

He smirked. "Don't tell me you left that ginseng as an innocent gesture of friendship, Sakura."

She gaped at him wordlessly.

He sauntered towards her and placed his hand on her hair. Then to her shock, his hand moved to mess it up, with ill-concealed fondness. Then he started to walk away, waving. "I will see you tonight."

Sakura watched him, a smile creeping on her face, too.

**To be continued**


End file.
